A/N: Disclaimer-blah blah blah, don't own Inuyasha, blah blah, only my OC's, blah blah, etc. Its not long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. More to come, eventually.
...
Kagura, demon witch of the winds, had her cold, unhappy eyes fixed upon some vague goal. No doubt a task given to her by her cruel 'father', Naraku. To her, he was just a vicious brute of a half-demon that had given her life, but denied her the vital part of her that would make her whole. Her heart.
Curse him, she thought sourly, for what seemed like the thousandth time today. He had, yet again, sent her off on some pointless task to find a demon that could, supposedly help them finally kill off that pestilential Inuyasha and his gang.
I don't understand how this demon can help. 'Drink his blood before you fight them, he tells me. And bring the demon, Hiroki back with you. He can be of use, even if you manage to fail-but I expect results.' he says. What could possibly come of drink demon blood? He tells me it will make me stronger-so why doesn't he drink it? she grumbled to herself, shaking her head.
It was hours later when she finally landed, and where she had landed pleased her no less than the task. It was some recent battle field, and the blood still stained the ground beneath her sandled feet, much to her disgust. With a unhappy toss of her hair, she began the frustrating task of searching through the sliced and dismembered bodies of human samurai. It almost looked as if something had torn through them like a hurricane-how lovely-and then...She frowned, crouching down to push the helmet away from a corpses face, studying it.
"Bloodless." she said to herself, brows furrowing as she tried to understand this. She did the same to another body, then another, before decided that this was how all the bodies were. Something had drank the blood completely from every body on the field, and there had to be hundreds.
Suddenly, her skin crawled a demonic aura washed over her-more powerful than Naraku's, nearly bringining her to her knees. But she forced her knees to straighten and whirled, staring at the creature that had acused such an aura. But, it wasn't what she expected.
The man before her stood maybe 6'6", with the palest blue eyes she had ever seen. His shoulder length black hair fell loosely about his shoulders, a few strands falling in his face as he stood there, letting the bitter cold wind bite into his...naked form. Blood stained his lips and hands-no, his claws. His arms, from the elbow down, were covered in broad dull red scales-or was it chitin?-while each of his fingers were covered in black. He was, without a doubt, a most beautiful specimen, even with his unusual hands.
"Are you Hiroki?" she asked, as calmly as she could, playing her fingers over her fan. He stared at her with dull, emotionless eyes and slowly, he spoke. "I am." he said, in a soft, low pitched voice that was pleasant to the ears.
"My name is Kagura. I come here at the behest of my master, Naraku-"
"The half demon..."
"..Yes. He wishes you to join him." He shook his head slowly, and very slightly, before he turned to the side, as if to leave.
"I've no desire to fight." he said softly, looking among the bodies, with a sad expression.
"Didn't you kill all these humans?" she questioned, arching a brow. His face twisted, briefly, with pain as a hand went to his stomach.
"...I didn't mean to." he whispered, closing his eyes. "They were already killing one another."
"I see. So you stumbled over the battle, and couldn't control yourself." she murmured, seeing him shudder slightly at her words. She considered how to handle this, wondering if the brute force way would be possible-as strong as he was, she doubted it. She took the only option left to her, and slowly padded over to him, standing in front of him-fighting not to look down.
"Its not your fault, you know. They would've killed each other off-you just saved them the trouble." she murmured, in the most soothing manner she could. His dull eyes stared down at her without wavering, or a hint of emotion. "Why does it bother you so much?"
She actually got an answer. "I'm a monster." he said softly.
"You're a demon that feeds on blood-what's so wrong with that?"
He stared at her, as if it should be obvious. "...it doesn't matter to you." he murmured, after a long moment. Turning, he began to walk away, but she grabbed it hand quickly, not wanting him to get away without at least a token arguement. "Wait!"
He froze, a tension singing through well toned muscles as he turned to stare at her. She saw his nose flair, as if scenting the air, she ignored it and focused on his eyes. He looked so intense, those blue eyes cutting into her like a blade.
"Don't go. I...need your help." she said quietly, forcing the words from her lips. A thunderous silence washed over them both for a long moment, before he slowly raised his free hand and touched her cheek with the tip of his black claws. She couldn't suppress a shiver that cawled up her spine. She didn't move, she was scared to, thinking it would tempt him to hurt her.
"How can I help?" he said quietly, seeming to have come to some decision, and letting his hand drop to his side. A relieved sigh came to her lips, and she managed to give him a slight smile, her cold eyes on his.
"Come with me. Give me your blood, when its necessary."
"Do you understand what it could do to you?" he murmured.
She tilted her head. "Naraku said it would make whoever drinks it many times stronger for a while."
"...yes. For a while. Then you will be so exhausted you will sleep heavily-nothing will wake you for hours. When you wake, you will be ravenously hungry, so much so you'll be in pain." he murmured, half lidded eyes studying her. "That's the cost of drinking of me."
Her lips pressed tight, displeased. Naraku didn't mention that little detail-maybe he didn't know, or maybe he didn't care. That bastard.
"It doesn't matter. What he says goes-unfortunately." she murmured, pulling a feather from her hair and tossing it. It expanded abruptly, and she jumped on. "Come on. We'll find you some clothing, first." she said, allowing her gaze to sweep downward to the rather impressive length laying limp between his legs, before her eyes hurried moved up to his face once more. "Doesn't the cold bother you?" she continued as he climbed on.
"Very little bothers me."
...
The morning found them in a little river side village, with a trembling human timidly offering up various clothing to the naked male. He had tried on three outfits, and each time Kagura determined they didn't suit him-for some reason, it bothered her that the clothes might be too short, or over sized. Eventually, they managed to settle on a black kimono with an almost feminine cut to it, though it was meant for males of his slender body type, tied with a dark red sash.
"There. That suits him." she decided, waving the human away with a disdainful gesture of her fan. The old man happily fled, happy to have kept his life, no doubt. "Come, Hiroki. We must find Inuyasha now." she said, walking away from the village.
"Tell me more about this Inuyasha, and his friends. Why must you kill them?" he inquired.
Kagura scoffed under her breath. "The mutt interfere's with Naraku's plans to gather all the shards of the Shikon jewel. More times than I care to count. He uses a giant sword, a fang from his father, if I recall right. His woman, a young priestess in odd clothing, uses sacred arrows. Dangerous, if they could get past my wind attacks. There is a demon slayer woman who uses a giant weapon called the Hirakos, and her demon cat, too. The monk is a product of Naraku's creation, you might say. His family is cursed with the Wind Tunnel-something that devours all in its path, growing until it eventually destroys the owner. The last, and least powerful, is a fox kit named Shippo. He is nothing of importance-merely a tag-along." she said quietly, shaking her head. "They've killed his fair share of my 'brother's and 'sisters', if they can be called such."
He gave her what she considered to be his inquiring look, so she explained. "I wasn't born like demons or humans...I'm just a piece of Naraku given a mind and unique abilities so I can serve him. Without a heart, I'm just a puppet."
He studied her intently. He didn't like the way this Naraku sounded, not now, nor had he before he'd met this demoness. Rumors had flown like birds on the wing about him, but he'd never really thought that the wicked demon had known of his existence.
He gave the slightest of sighs, so soft it didn't even draw her attention to him. Despite her claims at being a mere puppet, he knew she had her own thoughts, her own desires. And, he suspected, that desire was freedom. He broke the silence that had fallen with a simple question. "Where can we find them?" he wondered.
"We'll draw Inuyasha back to the village where he was trapped. If he isn't there already. They return there every so often." she explained, half lidded eyes glancing to him as she tossed out the giant feather and leaped upon it. "If necessary, I'll slaughter a few humans to keep you fed."
His silence spoke for itself, but the emotionless stare sent shivers down her spine. "I'm joking..." she mumbled, trying to appease him, to rid herself of that soul-piercing stare. Sensing her discomfort, he turned and peered over the horizon, doubting that it had been a joke at all.
...
The little village, peaceful and serene, was quiet beneath them as they floated on high currents far above the gaze of humans. Kagura, who had visited once or twice in the past, was not at all interested in the scenery, though she could tell Hiroki was pleased with the view. His gaze had gentled somewhat, though he still wore a mask over his emotions for the most part. She wondered if that was something he'd been taught to do, or simply did to steel himself against temptation. She didn't bother to ask, though, for it seemed a useless question.
"You do understand what we're here to do?" she asked, frowning at him.
"To kill. To harm others." he said, that gentler expression fading back to that dull mask. Beautiful, though it may have been. For the second time, she noted that, despite his diet of blood, he seemed to despise the thought of fighting. A curious thing.
"Good. I don't need your blood for this task, but I don't want you seen either. I want to surprise Inuyasha and the others. For now. Go and hide in the forest. I'll find you in a while." she ordered, spreading her fan and beginning to angle towards the forest. But, before she could, he had stood and gracefully leaped off, landing among the trees with such ease, even the agile mistress of the wind was impressed.
What a waste. He's so timid, yet he has so much potential, she thought, shaking her head, as she began her decent into Kikyo's old village. As she brought her feather down within range, and raised her fan in a sharp swipe before her, her voice rang out, "Dance of Blades!"
And the screams began.